Chicago ministers say Martin Luther King would not have supported gay rights

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I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice, but I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.

The Boy Scouts of America have stated publicly for decades that “gay men are not moral enough” to be Scout leaders and hand refused hire openly gay men as such.

Despite this blatant discrimination, by a group that receives public funds AND whose sole purpose is to mold the minds and characters of millions of American boys, you won’t find a single word about the BSA on the SPLC web site. Why?

Many of the SPLC’s mostly elderly donors were Scouts or the parents/grandparents of Scouts.

In short, linking the almighty donors to a “hate group” is bad for business. “Fighting hate” is all well and good until it cuts into the bottom line.

In fact, according to the SPLC’s hometown newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser, despite being located LITERALLY in the back yard of Dr. Martin Luther King’s home church, the SPLC has NEVER hired a person of color to a highly paid position of power.

They have no way of knowing what MLK’s views on homosexuality would have been.

Granted the fact that MLK was a religious person makes it far more likely that he would have been a homophobic bigot (religious people being FAR more likely to hate gay people than non-religious people).

Be aware that many black people turned out in droves in California to vote Obama into office. Guess what was on the ballot also? Prop 8, overturning gay marriage rights. The Black community and Hispanic community in the US has some of the highest increases in HIV b/c these communities are highly conservative and repress acknowledgement of gays within their midst.

Ashamedly my siblings in Christ have forgotten or are ignoring Bayard Rustin. “Bearing false witness” I think. Bayard was gay and an American civil rights activist credited as the chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. on non-violent resistance.

I’m totally with Peter Tatchell on issues like this one. Unless this group of Chicago ministers has actually incited violence against Christians, like the Muslims meeting at the Ibis have done, then we should totally respect their right to their beliefs.

it’s sadly predictable that the homophobic christians would say they know better then others about something they have no understanding of, they aren’t even open enough to see that racism parallels homophobia

I’m totally with Peter Tatchell on issues like this one. Unless this group of Chicago ministers has actually incited violence against Christians, like the Muslims meeting at the Ibis have done, then we should totally respect their right to their beliefs.

So Phil and Peter, when shall we draw the line. Words are just the start, they turn in to abuse , violence and then death. Please advise when you think common sense and equality should kick in as the another gay guy falls to the ground. People hear words of hate and act on them . They see it as there OK to do unspeakle deeds towards another human being. The words of hate are the the start. Its a rolling ball that gathers hate. So please do advise how I should have behaved as my neighbour drove me from my home with their bile of hate spewing from their mouths. Should I have just stayed living there and just respected their freedom of speach. Bollocks.

These Black Church ministers should remember that there were many that claimed that the constitution didn’t apply to black people, and that Benjamin Franklin et al would have been appalled to see the children of slaves covered by constitutional protections.

To “Jim” who was driven from his home by a Christian neighbour spouting bile against his homosexuality, you’re right, they should have been prosecuted. Phil and Tatchell are wrong to suggest homophobia from Christians should be tolerated. If they have to be two-faced and keep their bile indoors, to themselves, then that’s how it’s got to be. Actually, that way I think they would eventually lose their homophobia. Beliefs that can’t be practised in public generally die out.

Zefrog has already quoted Coretta Scott King, who was the widow of Martin Luter King Jr and an amazing, tireless campaigner for equality and universal rights around the world. Not only did she campaign for racial equality and against apartheid, but also for the rights of all minorities including lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.

Here is part of her entry in Wikipedia, showing her views about LGBT equality. I am inclined to believe Martin Luther King’s widow when she says that he would have supported LGBT equality:

On April 1, 1998 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Scott King called on the civil rights community to join in the struggle against homophobia and anti-gay bias. “Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood”, she stated. “This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group.”

In a speech in November 2003 at the opening session of the 13th annual Creating Change Conference, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Scott King made her now famous appeal linking the Civil Rights Movement to LGBT rights: “I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people. … But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”

Coretta Scott King’s support of LGBT rights was strongly criticized by some black pastors. She called her critics “misinformed” and said that Martin Luther King’s message to the world was one of equality and inclusion.

In 2003, she invited the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to take part in observances of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. It was the first time that an LGBT rights group had been invited to a major event of the African American community.

On March 23, 2004, she told an audience at Richard Stockton College in Pomona, New Jersey, that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. She denounced a proposed amendment advanced by President George W. Bush to the United States Constitution that would ban equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. In her speech King also criticized a group of black pastors in her home state of Georgia for backing a bill to amend that state’s constitution to block gay and lesbian couples from marrying. Scott King is quoted as saying “Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriage.”

@Stuart Neyton
Increased homophobia usually always goes hand in hand with particular ethnic groups and religion. The article above states what many in black religious circles believe. That there is no connection btw Black civil rights and gay civil rights.
The black voting pattern that I described is documented if you’d care to google it.
And I am afraid to burst your bubble but in this strange world of ours prejudice begets prejudice and there appears always to be a pecking order with gays usually on the lower rung. We only have to look at the concentration camps to see how badly gay ppl. were treated by other inmates and the ‘liberating’ allies.
And to start ur research? This just in from the LA Weekly…”In particular, they failed to detect or address strong anti–gay marriage sentiment among Latino and black voters in big, Southern California cities like Los Angeles, and in working-class inland counties such as San Bernardino and Riverside.” when referring to the efforts of Equality California to sway voters against prop 8. “

One must always consider the source in such comments and the Illinois Family Institute is a fundamentalist evangelical christian group. What other stand would we expect them to take? I think that Coretta Scott King’s comments trump anything the ‘institute’ might have to say.

Were largely white Evangelical and Fundamentalist groups hailing the struggle against racial segregation in the US in the 50s and 60s? No, they were complaining about ‘uppity n***ers’ who had been made by God to serve them. Same old historical amnesia and hypocrisy.

Dangerous B. B’s (BLACK BIGOTS,) seem to have forgotten,they were put into a class of monkeys.
Called COONS and considered
less than animals working the
fields.Marriage?No way.
So today these Black Bigots set
themselves up to Falsely carry
the words and feelings of Martin Luther King?SHAME.
You have NO HONOR.
Many recall the words of King and Coretta Scott King.
Equal rights mean just that!!!!!
Equal rights for ALL.
Call your press conference,put
your phony egos on display, but
remember many have not changed their views of you.
Injustice breeds injustice.
I am madd as hell,how bout a
good ol ass whooping to set your hearts on rightous path
of caring.

The fact that this ‘group’ has been designated a Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center is all that needs to be said, really-18 such “Christian” groups have been given the same dubious distinction. What would Jesus do? NOT what these groups do. In order to spread hatred these people surrender and denigrate their very faith so as to promote this sort of bigotry and prejudice. Disgusting display of ignorance, intolerance and homophobia! They really need to mind their own business. Mrs King is a lovely person who has love in her heart-these other sorts have no such grace. Bigotry and intolerance are not family values. Love is a family value. This group knows no love and has hatred in their hearts.